CU chancellor’s shocking conference realignment goal of Colorado football

CU chancellor Phil DiStefano revealed the shocking realignment plan he has in mind for Colorado football and the rest of the Buffaloes’ athletics programs: sticking in the Pac-12 despite the existing Big 12 smoke.

“I’m eagerly awaiting to hear what the commissioner has to say (Thursday),” DiStefano told The Denver Post on July 19. “But at this point, the 10 (Pac-12) schools are staying together and awaiting a message from the commissioner. (CU’s) goal is to stay within the Pac-12 and have a media deal coming up shortly,” the chancellor continued. That’s our goal. And I believe the presidents and chancellors of the Pac-12 are together on that.” This follows SEC Network analyst Greg McElroy’s prediction that the Buffs would end up in the Big 12 by 2026.

“I think Colorado is already going,” McElroy said of CU to the Big 12 (h/t On3). “That’s not sourced, I’m not saying it’s done. I’m just saying right now if you told me ‘Greg, bet $100… where will Colorado be playing football in 2026?’ I say the Big 12.”

Colorado football will remain in Pac-12 ‘with or without’ Deion Sanders

Most interesting in the coverage from The Denver Post’s Sean Keeler was the insinuation that the Buffaloes would join the Pac-12 with or without Deion Sanders. Keeler included the prediction in his lede while adding that CU will stick with the west coast-based conference as long as a television deal is in place.

“Coach Prime or no Coach Prime, the CU Buffs’ preference is to remain a member of the Pac-12, chancellor Phil DiStefano told The Post on Wednesday,” Keeler prefaced before saying, “But the university’s commitment to the conference it joined a dozen years ago could depend, in part, on a long-awaited Pac-12 broadcast rights deal.”

San Diego State staying in the Mountain West could potentially bode well for the Pac-12; possibly signaling that the Power Five conference is maintaining its current members and not lowering its standards to take on programs from the MWC or other Group of Five conferences. SMU has also been tabbed as a potential way to expand the conference into Texas.

Perhaps those two schools do end up joining as the rest of the Pac-12 rallies around the loss of UCLA and USC in 2024. If they do, it seems CU will see them on the gridiron despite rumors of a Big 12 jump.